It's been a while, but we have finally released some new global asset databases. All available open source, for both non-commercial and commercial use!
• Global Pulp and Paper Mill Database: https://lnkd.in/eV6Fr39w
• Global Ethylene Production Database: https://lnkd.in/enBhW2gP
• Global Dumpsite Database: Coming soon
A lot of effort goes into compiling these databases, which is timeconsuming and often tedious work, so all credits and lots of gratitude to my colleagues at Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment - University of Oxford: Alex Jackman, David Kampmann, Neetu Kushwaha, Philippa Lockwood, Amani Maalouf, Hassan Aftab S. and Alok Singh!
We created these databases by compiling publicly available information from a wide range of sources, which we share in a brief report, alongside an inventory of 145 readily available asset location databases: https://lnkd.in/eNdMgGqY
There is no lack of location data, but availability varies between sectors and datasets are not always comprehensive or up to date. The main issue is that a lot of asset databases were never designed for financial applications. So yes it is a (massive) pain to collate, clean and connect asset data to ownership trees, for financial analyses.
But it can be, and is being done all the time. Non-profits like Global Energy Monitor, World Resources Institute or TransitionZero as well as academics from around the world frequently publish open asset databases. And a growing number of commercial players offer asset data for financial risk applications or build internal asset location databases to underpin their own environmental analytics offerings.
There is more that we can do for sure. Disclosure frameworks could ask for more comprehensive location disclosures, and not only for sites 'at material risk'. Public environmental regulators can open up and harmonise the wealth of data they collect. And us researchers should continue to connect the dots with open data and methodologies. But, as discussed so often with James d'Ath and others at Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), there is already a lot of data to start with.
At the end of the day, asset location data itself is not very insightul, it's about the analysis that's built on top. More or less all sustainability risks, impacts and opportunities are context specific. Analysing these in a meaningful way can only be done spatially, from the bottom-up.
We're looking forward to build on this work and continue our research with collaborators across Mistra FinBio, Capitals Coalition, UNEP-WCMC, PBL Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving, UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI) and many more.
